Racing Round-Up

Butchers Block Duathlon, Naas

UCD's Cian O'Reilly won the Intervarsities Duathlon Championship and the overall race at the Butcher's Block duathlon in Punchestown racecourse just outside of Naas, Co. Kildare on Sunday. The event, hosted by Naas Triathlon Club was the second in a three race series and with National Duathlon Series points up for grabs was hotly contested.

Almost 200 competitors raced in extremely tough conditions with high winds and wild rain making completion an achievement in itself. Cian O'Reilly led the field from the start but having forgotten his bike shoes was forced to complete the cycle in his runners. Still he managed the third quickest bike split of the day and came home the winner by almost 90seconds.

Michael Reilly took second place, thanks in part to the quickest bike split of the day while Will Byrne has positioned himself well in the 2016 Duathlon Championships by adding a third place yesterday to the 6th place finish he took on the January edition of the Butcher's Block.

Foley Wins Women's Race

In the women's race, Heather Foley made it two wins in a row as she crossed the line in a time of 01:01:01 - seven seconds quicker than her performance in the January edition of the race. Aileen Flynn took second place while third went to Kim Hickey.

With Cian O'Reilly doing the double, Edward Kearney finished second in the Intervarsities Championship. Eoin Nagle took the bronze medal position.

Naas Duathlon welcomes Para-Triathlon

For the first time, Naas also hosted a para-triathlon event with a time-trial as part of Triathlon Ireland squad's preparation for international Paralympics in Rio this summer.

The final leg of the Naas Duathlon Series takes place on March 27th at Punchestown with more information at naastriclub.com.

Mintern Claims the Prize in Limerick

Limerick Duathlon witnessed a battle of the young guns as Under 23 High Performance squad member Chris Mintern put in the fastest bike split of the day to win-out over Darren Dunne (2nd) and Cillian Tierney (3rd), both of whom are on the Junior Development squad.

In the women's race Becky Coughlan won with a comfortable lead. Lisa Horgan and Denise Compton came home in second and third respetively.

Ben Shaw Top Ten at OTU Devonport

In Australia meanwhile, Elite High Performance athlete Ben Shaw claimed 8th place at the Devonport OTU Triathlon Continental Cup race on the island of Tasmania. Shaw was one of just two non-Australian competitors in the field and had a wall of green and gold chasing him on the bike leg as he attacked aggressively with Matt Baker to break clear.

Goodbye to Spain

Other members of the Triathlon Ireland High Performance squad finished their February training camp by racing in a local duathlon near Aguillas in Spain.

Bryan Keane and Russel White teamed up on the draft-legal bike leg to press home their advantage over the field and claimed first and second place with Waterford Triathlon Club's Kieran Jackson showing good form after a hard training camp to finish in 6th place in what was a very competitive field of athletes.

National Olympic Distance Champion for 2015, Russel White begins his international season on April 2nd with the European Cup race in Quarteira Portugal, while Bryan Keane will line out with a world class field in Abu Dhabi at the start of next month in the first ITU World Triathlon Series race of 2016 which will be streamed live on triathlon-live tv.